Melba

F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Very Good Condition/Very Good. Illustrator: Photographic. Illustrated with two line drawings in the text, a colour frontispiece painted by Rupert Bunny, and 16 pages of black-and-white photography. Includes bibliographic sources, index, and photographic. Purple coloured boards with gilt coloured titles to the back strip. Light purple coloured tint to the top text edge. Illustrated dust jacket with purple and black coloured titles to the front panel and back strip. Generous and mean, kindly and ruthless, stead fast and capricious, with a prodigious talent for self-dramatisation balanced by a Napoleonic gift of realism, she has inspired three earlier book length biographies, as well as a novel, a play, and 2 films. But until now no writer has penetrated the enigma of her personality and recreated her life-size. -- front fold over blurb. Softening and rubbing of the back strip edges with a little bumping of the top book corners and rubbing to all corners. Age toning of the text block edges with very faint foxing also present. Age toning of the pages. Some creasing of the top dustwrapper edges with rubbing of the lower edge. The white coloured background of the dustwrapper has become yellowed due to age. A small split to the top corner of the rear dustwrapper. Foxing to the fold over panels and there is Browning and some foxing of the verso. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 312 pages,. Please refer to accompanying picture (s). Illustrator: Photographic. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Biography & Autobiography; Performing Arts; Biography -- Arts; Australia; Inventory No: 0286974. .